Revelations
by Robin Roronoa
Summary: The crew finds out information about their archaeologist that hasn't been discussed before now, her birthday. With the sudden realization, the Straw Hats scramble to pull something together. In celebration of Nico Robin's and my dear friend, LengendaryOrigin's, birthdays. :)


"Thirty-one.", corrected the archaeologist absentmindedly, not bothering to glance up from the text open before her.

"Huh?", asked Nami, momentarily distracted from her argu-, conversation with the swordsman as her attention focused in on her female companion.

"I believe you just said that I was thirty, Nami-chan.", answered Robin, still scanning the words scrawled on the pages of her book as she spoke. "I'm afraid that is incorrect.", she added sweetly, sparing a moment to smile gently at the girl.

"No, but...you said you were twenty-eight when you joined, right, Onee-chan? And then we were separated for two years, so you'd be thirty right now.", reasoned Nami as she looked at the dark-haired woman confusedly.

"Yes, that is correct. When we first met I was indeed twenty-eight and after we reunited I was thirty.", agreed Robin. "However, that changed several weeks ago, I believe it was a Frid-"

"Robin!", yelled the redhead, her voice cracking slightly from the onslaught of emotions. "Why, I mean you, how did we? Ugh! How did none of us know it was your birthday? And why the heck didn't you mention it for weeks?", asked Nami accusingly. The navigator was trying her best to look stern as she demanded answers, but the guilt and hurt the washed over her at the moment was making it difficult to look harshly at the older woman.

"Nami, there's no need to be so alarmed. I haven't celebrated my birthday in decades. Thus, I felt no need to burden you all with the knowledge when we already had so much going on during our last adventure.", she answered calmly. "It's simply a date on the calendar, nothing more.", she added, placing her hand comfortingly on the girl's thigh. "Think nothing of it."

"How can you say that? You've celebrated with all of us on our birthdays, but we're not supposed to do that for you? I still don't get how we didn't know to begin with.", said the younger woman, still visibly peeved and distraught.

"You joined sometime in the fall, and we got separate just a couple months after that.", cut in Zoro, his voice deathly calm as he spoke. "Since your birthday must be in the beginning of February the two times it's come around since you joined were both during the two years we were apart.", he rationed out, meeting the historian's warm blue eyes as he spoke. "The first time we've all celebrated the New Year together was this year, so this was the first time we would've had the chance to know."

"My, my, I surprised you remembered that. You are indeed correct, Zoro.", giggled the raven-haired woman as she rose from her seat.

"Tch, I've been here since the beginning, so it's my job to know stuff like that. After all, it's not like that rubber-brained moron we have for a captain, would bother with stuff like that.", huffed the swordsman, glaring slightly as the woman passed him.

"I suppose you're right.", she agreed. "However, some things aren't exactly worth knowing.", she said, her voice dropping slightly as her gaze averted to the ground. Robin made as if to leave the kitchen once again, her hand resting on the doorknob before Zoro's stern voice gave her pause.

"So are you gonna tell us the freaking date, Woman?", he asked gruffly.

"Fufufu, February sixth, if you must know. Although, like I said, it's not im-"

"Robin, quit saying stuff li-", started Nami, finally having calmed down a little, only to be cut off.

"Aren't you always saying how important history is? This is a part of yours, and part of ours since you're one of us.", interrupted Zoro, his piercing eye locking with the surprised historian's as he spoke.

"Fufufu, you continue to surprise me, Mr. Swordsman.", she shot back playfully, no doubt a jab at him for failing to use her name as well. "I think I'll retire a bit early tonight, Nami.", Robin announced before departing, leaving the pair alone to mull over this new information.

"How did we find out everyone else's birthdays?", asked the swordsman after he could no longer hear Robin's retreating footsteps. Not that that meant she wasn't still there. Her fruit gave her the irritating ability to be able to listen in whenever she felt like it. He had a feeling though that she had truly left them alone this time.

"I don't know. I think it mostly just came up when we sat around talking after each of us joined. Robin was a little different though with how she joined at first."

"Yeah, that's an understatement.", he laughed coldly.

"Shut the heck up!", yelled Nami, punching the sword wielder repeatedly in the chest.

"Hey, hey, quit it!", Zoro shouted, gripping the redhead's wrists firmly to stop his beating.

"You're such an insensitive douche bag! I know you probably don't care since you've never been close with Robin, but this is a big deal, Idiot!"

"Who said I don't freaking care about this, you stubborn brat?", he yelled back, unknowingly tightening his hands as he yelled. "Just because I don't spend every freaking minute with her like you do doesn't mean I don't care about her just as much as you, Witch!"

"Ow! You're hurting me, Idiot! Let go!", shouted the navigator, kicking out at his legs.

Snapping out of his rage, Zoro quickly released his grip. "My bad, I didn't realize I was holding on that tight.", he said quietly.

"That's it? You practically cut the blood off to my hands and I don't even get a freaking apology?", asked the redhead angrily, rubbing her now sore wrists. "Gah, this better not leave any marks on me."

"You attacked me first, Witch.", he argued, although his voice sounded weak. Zoro knew it was his fault, he was the one that had lost control. Nami beat up on him all the time, but she never left more than a couple of bumps that faded just a quickly as they came. He hadn't meant to hurt her. He wasn't even sure why he had lashed out like that. Or more so he didn't like the reason he had gotten so worked up at the accusation, and was trying to deny it. Now he just hoped Nami didn't start questioning his odd behavior. He already had one nosy nakama to deal with, he didn't need another. Especially not the money-hungry witch of a navigator. "I sorry though.", he whispered, not meeting her glare. "I really wasn't trying to hurt you, Nami."

"Are you okay, Loser? I don't think I've ever seen you lose your cool like that, even in a real fight.", asked Nami, carefully examining his face.

"Yeah, just fine.", he answered halfheartedly.

"Hmm, I don't buy it, but we have more important things to do right now.", she said, a mischievous grin pulling at her lips.

"You mean we're not gonna let her have her way, don't you?", asked the green-haired man, his eye shining as he met the redhead's gaze.

"Uh huh. Robin's a Straw Hat, she should know that we're not gonna let something like this slide. She's a part of our crew, which means were gonna celebrate the day she came into this world whether she wants us to or not.", agreed Nami. "Plus we have a lot to make up for with never even thinking to ask her about it, so we gotta work extra hard to make this party amazing.", added the girl determinedly.

"Hehe, it's weird to see you so fired up, Witch. You normally just bark out orders to the rest of us."

"Robin's my best friend, Jerk. I'd never forgive myself if I didn't do everything I could to make her day special. Besides, she does so much for me all the time that I need to balance it out anyway. Otherwise it'll be like our friendship is just this huge debt I owe her."

"You know Robin doesn't think like that. And even if it's true, I doubt she even gives a crap. She cares way to much about you and the rest of us for that matter to even think twice about helping us out.", countered Zoro. "And besides, friendship isn't some business deal, you're not supposed to add up the nice things you do for each other."

"Don't you think I know that, Moron? That's not that point though."

"Then wh-"

"I normally work on my maps at night. It's much quieter, and the chances of you idiots making the ship rock even more than usual with your petty fights are slimmer." Zoro's eye narrowed at the last part. "When we first got Sunny, I would light some candles in our room and try to work at the little desk in there by the that and the moonlight. It was hard, I normally had to go back and redo parts where I had misjudged the lines if the entire thing wasn't a complete waste."

"Why didn't you just use the library where you could turn the lights on without worrying about bothering Robin?", asked the one-eyed man, curious about the redhead's story now despite himself.

"When I was with Arlong, he used to shut me up in a room all by myself to draw maps for him and his crew. Ever since then, I haven't liked shutting myself in to work on my maps even though that's easiest. On Merry it was easy since I could still hear you guys even when I was in my room and you all were on deck, so I didn't feel like I was really alone. Sanji-kun would even behave himself and let me work in peace in the kitchen sometimes. It's harder now that were in the New World though; we don't have time like we used to to laze around and humor ourselves."

"Yeah."

"Robin woke up one night when I accidentally knocked over my inkwell. She asked what I was doing, I explained what I just told you, blah, blah, blah. Long story short, every time after that that I needed to work on my maps at night, she'd come lay in the library with me so I didn't have to be alone. Then after I was done for the night she'd just patiently come back to our room with me, or if it was really late we'd just sleep together on the couch that Franky put in there.", finished the girl, a gentle smile on her face as she reminisced about all the late nights she had guiltily woken up the archaeologist only to have her friend smile up at her before leading her though the ship to her personal sanctuary. She thought of all the mornings she had woken up to the boys' shouting for them to hurry to breakfast only to find that Robin had in fact been awake for hours, patiently allowing her to continue sleeping on top of her until she was ready to wake up. The woman went beyond normal means for her all the time. Nami wanted to try and do the same for her, even if just this one day. Repaying even a small amount of the love the older girl showed her would ease her conscious.

"Okay, crew meeting minus a certain archaeologist now. I'll go track down the rest of the guys and send them here. You just stay put and start thinking of ideas for what we can do.", ordered Nami, brushing past Zoro on her way out.

"Wait, how are we gonna do this when were in the middle of sea? You said we were another two days out if the weather held up.", questioned Zoro skeptically.

"Sanji-kun and Franky's birthdays are soon so I went ahead and picked up some extra party supplies and told Sanji-kun to get plenty of ingredients during our last stop, so we're good in that area. I'll need to talk to Franky and Usopp about coming up with some presents, but everything else we should be able to manage."

"Hehe, good.", said Zoro, taking a seat at the table.

"Oh, and Zoro, I really mean it. Don't go anywhere. We can't have you getting lost at a time like this.", added Nami with a devilish smirk before leaving.

"We're in the middle of sea! How could I get lost on the ship?", shouted the swordsman after her.

 _ **Next Day**_

 _That's odd, Nami didn't come to bed.,_ noted the raven-haired woman as she blinked the sleep from her azure eyes, examining the untouched half of their bed. Robin rolled over, pushing herself up out of bed and stretching her thin arms above her head. She crossed limbs at the wrist in front of her ample chest next, blooming eyes in various rooms around the Sunny, trying to catch a glimpse of her missing nakama. Robin frowned as she failed to locate the girl, and found the none of the men were in their quarters or normal gathering places either. Grabbing her robe off the bedpost, she hastily wrapped the garment over the short silk nightdress she was currently donning and ran outside. _We may have been attacked and everyone is on deck since I checked every room inside and couldn't locate any of them._ The historian quickly navigated the familiar halls of her home, running faster than she normally dared to until she reached the deck door, throwing it open in her worried haste.

"Happy Birthday!", chorused seven cheery voices. Robin quickly straightened up at the clearly non-threatening scene in front of her. Nami ran forward and threw her arms around her, quickly followed by Chopper who held on around her shoulders from behind.

"Happy Birthday, Robin.", said Nami happily, as she pulled back to take in the older woman's still surprised look before burying her face back against the soft mess of Robin's long hair. She was startled by the fierce grip she felt around her as Robin returned her embrace, and even more so by the warm drops she felt hit her back as she held her.

"Silly girl, I told you this wasn't important.", whispered the blue-eyed historian as she pulled her closer.

"Quit spouting that nonsense, Woman, and come enjoy this.", huffed Zoro from his seat on the mast's wrap-around bench.

"Oi, don't talk to Robin-chwan like that, Moss Head!", yelled Sanji angrily, lifting his foot to kick the rude swordsman in the face.

"Shut your mouth, Love Cook, and stay out of this. She knows she's being stupid. This was gonna happen whether she liked it or not, so she might as well enjoy it.", shot back Zoro, easily blocking the disgruntled cook's foot as he met the archaeologist's watery eyes. "Robin's one of us, right?", he asked her, grinning.

"Yes.", she said confidently, wiping the few tears that had managed to leak out despite herself. "Everyone, thank you.", she said, gently stroking the navigator's and reindeer's heads as she spoke.

"Shishishi, you're our nakama, Robin. You don't have to say thanks.", cut in Luffy, stretching his arms and wrapping them around the woman's waist.

"Luffy, wait!", shouted Usopp as he realized what the rubberman was planning on. Too late; he watched at the straw-hatted man flew through the gathered crew and smacked against the navigator, knocking them along with Robin and Chopper to the deck.

"Luffy, you idiot!", roared Nami as she shoved him off of her and jumped to her feet. "Can't you walk over like a normal person for once!", she asked exasperatedly, whipping him in the face with her Clima-Tact.

"Fufufu. Nami-chan, it's quite alright. Nobody is hurt.", cut in Robin, blooming several hands along the girl's body to halt her brutal attack of their captain. "I'm sure Luffy didn't mean anything by it.", she added smiling at he scarred boy.

"You're much too patient with these morons, Robin. I'll let it go though since today's your day after all.", sighed Nami, much to Luffy and the rest of the crew's relief.

"Shishishi, thanks Robin. You're the best.", said Luffy happily, moving over to the older woman's side and giving her a tight hug. "Happy Birthday.", he added with his usual bright grin. Robin's smile faltered as the boy continued moving against her and she felt a slight weight on her head. Glancing up she noticed the sudden shade; shifting she saw the noticeable absence of her captain's beloved straw hat on his messy mop of black hair.

"Luffy...", she said, her hand gingerly touching the hat's battered rim as she looked at him.

"You gotta promise not to keep stuff like this from us okay, Robin.", said the boy sternly, placing his hand atop his hat the rested on her head. "You're my archaeologist, and all of our nakama, so no secrets, okay.", he said.

"O-of course.", she got out, lowering her gaze as she felt as fresh onslaught of tears build up behind her eyes.

"Now, now, this is supposed to be a SUPER celebration!", cut in Franky, striking his signature pose before moving to stand in front of teary-eyed historian. "No more of those tears, Nico Robin. This is your SUPER birthday party!", said the cyborg, lifting the woman up off of Chopper, who had hastily transformed to his human form to break their fall before they hit the deck. "Now let's start with the presents for our SUPER archaeologist, huh?", asked the blue-haired man. Robin giggled as she glanced up and noticed that the flamboyant man's hairstyle of the day seemed to be a likeness of her in her typical attack stance. "Fufufu, that's quite the super hairstyle, Franky.", she laughed as she was carried towards the mast.

"Haha, glad you like you. How about my new SUPER shirt, flowers and purple?", he asked with a grin. "Had to get in the spirit after all."

"Yes, it's quite super as well.", she agreed, gripping the fabric tenderly as she now noticed the man's obvious ode to her.

"Now, you sit right here and we'll bring the gifts to you.", he said, placing her down gently.

Robin gazed at him curiously as she was placed not on the mast's bench, but directly on the swordsman's lap.

"Oi, Franky!", shouted Zoro, his face noticeably red as he refused to meet her curious stare.

"Come on, Bro, be a man.", said the cyborg, shooting a glance at the younger man over his shoulder.

A silent exchange seemed to pass between to two men before Zoro huffed and backed down. "Tch, stupid shipwright."

"Zoro, I'll mov-", offered Robin.

"Nah, it's fine. I don't mind.", he bit out, still not completely looking at her. "It's your party anyway, and this is probably more comfortable than this crappy bench.", he said, emphasizing the last bit so that Franky shot him a dirty look as he bent over to pick up a rather large wrapped box.

"I guess swordsmen just can't face up to their true feelings about _benches._ ", shot back the metal man as he walked back towards the mast.

Robin glanced over her shoulder at the young swordsman to gauge his reaction to Franky's odd comeback. _He's clearly goading him about something, but what?_ Looking around it seemed that the other men were just as befuddled as she was. Nami however, had a knowing grin on her face as she watched the exchange, shifting her chocolate brown eyes between the swordsman's reddening face, and his...arms? Robin knitted her brows as she too glanced down at Zoro's arms that were currently wrapped around her waist. _How did I not realize he had done that? Was I so focused on their conversation that I didn't notice. Hmm, his grip is rather gentle_., she noticed, with a smile. _It feels almost natural, being near him like this._ Her musings were interrupted as Franky placed the large package in front of her. Robin was pleased to notice that she wouldn't have to leave her spot on the swordsman's lap to open it, it was that large. She wasn't sure why, but she wanted to stick close to the green-haired man, if for nothing else than to help ease his anger from the shipwright's mysterious taunting. _He seemed to calm down a bit after I met his eye. Perhaps, I'll ask him about his and Franky-san's strange behavior later._

The next hours were a blur of gift opening, cake eating, and the usual chaos that accompanied a Straw Hat party. Robin found herself with a state of the art lawn chair courtesy of their genius shipwright, several new outfits that the navigator had apparently picked out for her during their last stop, and several books that Chopper had forgotten about buying for her weeks earlier. Usopp had worked up a few different reading lights for her, ranging from a light-weight bookmark-shaped one to an infrared one. She wasn't sure when the last one would come in handy, but she appreciated it none the less. Brook had composed a hauntingly beautiful piece in her honor and Sanji had clearly slaved away in the kitchen for hours cooking up a feast according to her preferences and crafting an extravagant five tiered cake that alternated between coffee and cinnamon, and finished with a light dark chocolate frosting. Perhaps, the most surprising though had been Luffy's contribution. He had procured a rather old looking photo album that contained roughly two-hundred blank pages in it at various intervals. The crew had questioned where the boy had found such a thing since it didn't belong to anyone on the crew since no one had seen it before, and it wasn't as if he could've just pulled it out of the sea. Luffy had simply smiled and announced that it was a secret before asking if she liked it.

"I thought this could be like a history book of our adventure. You could write stuff in it and we could put pictures of all the islands Nami's gonna put on her map and of our new friends. Oh, and all the awesome meat Sanji's gonna cook up! And the cool bronze statues were gonna get.", he had added excitedly.

All in all she was still mystified as to how they had manged such a feat in the few hours she had been asleep. Even with the full year one usually has to formulate a plan for their loved ones' birthdays, she doubted she could have put together such a heartwarming display as her friends had pulled together for her in less than twenty-four hours. It was now roughly three o'clock in the afternoon she guessed, the weather was strange in the part of the New World though. Clouds would steadily block out the sun as soon as noon hit, leaving them to sail by the small circle of light that was allowed to shine. She pictured it a bit like the clouds tucking in the poor tired sun and allowing him to rest a bit during the days until it was the moon's turn to come out. They allowed a little bit of light to shine though, similar to a nightlight, she had mused when they had first discovered the strange phenomena. She was grateful for the strange occurrence now though as it allowed her exhausted nakama to sleep peacefully around her on the deck in the strange twilight atmosphere.

"It's no wonder they crashed. Staying up all night and then partying for several hours.", she said quietly, her hand absently brushing her captain's messy hair as he slept next to her.

"They did it all for you.", came a voice from her other side. Looking over she saw Zoro sit up from his laying down position and begin carefully making his way to her side.

"Yes, I'm aware of that.", she said.

"Was this really the first time you've celebrated your own birthday?", he asked as he plopped down beside her.

"Not exactly. Once when I was eight, the other archaeologists on Ohara threw me a party with cake and music, and everything.", she said wistfully, a pained smile distorting her beautiful face Zoro noticed. "And although I only have foggy memories of her at this point, I'm certain my mother celebrated my first two birthdays before she had to leave. Other than that I'm afraid I didn't really see the point in celebrating the occasion after my home was destroyed. The years soon stopped feeling like an achievement to have survived and more just a monotonous, never-ending burden. I had no place to call home, and had given up hope that I ever would. My dream was slipping further and further away with every day that passed, and I had doubted whether the end result was worth continuing to run. When I thought I was as good as dead in Alabasta, it wasn't sadness that I felt, but relief. Relief that I wouldn't have to spent yet another year fighting for a goal that I had lost hope in.", confessed the historian solemnly.

"You don't still feel that way right?", asked Zoro.

"Not at all."

"So after today, will you look forward to celebrating your birthday with you friends? "Cause just to warn you, the crew, Nami and Luffy especially, have kinda got the next ten years or so planned out with ideas for you. You'd be shocked with how productive they can be when it's for you.", he added with a smile, taking a swig out of a half-empty bottle he had found nearby. "Not that you don't deserve it.", he added, his voice surprisingly gentle. If she didn't know the man she would have said the sudden shift from his usual gruffness was do to the contents of the bottle he was drinking from. In all the days she had spent with his though she had never seen him come close to being intoxicated. Or sound so sweet she also noted.

"Please don't try and act like I'm some saint among sinners, Zoro. I do no more for my nakama than they do for me and for each other on a regular basis. We are a crew, I'm nothing special.", she said simply.

"Maybe you see it like that.", he said. She waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't. They sat in comfortable silence for several minutes before she remembered what she had wanted to talk to him about earlier.

"Zoro."

"Hmm?", he said, turning his attention away from the murky waters around them and towards her.

"What was it you and Franky seemed to be fighting about earlier?", she asked, careful to study his reaction to the question.

"T-that...wasn't anything. Stupid robot needs to learn to keep his big, fire-breathing mouth shut is all.", answered the green-haired man gruffly as he averted his eye.

"I thought Luffy made it clear earlier that there are no secrets among us.", urged Robin, scooting closer to the swordsman.

"Tch. Just go to sleep already, woman.", he huffed, although he didn't scoot away from her, Robin noticed.

"Fufufu, you're quite reluctant to broach this topic aren't you, Zoro? I must say for a man like you to seem so flustered, well needless to say, my interest has indeed been peaked.", joked the historian. She watched as the young man squirmed at her comment. She giggled at the strange, yet decidedly adorable reaction from the man before obeying him. She pulled his arm against her chest as she leaned her head onto his shoulder, snuggling close to his warm body as he stiffened momentarily before she felt more than heard him breath out and could feel his muscles relax against her form. "You still don't mind, do you, Zoro?", she asked coyly, looking up at him slightly.

Zoro noticed how close their faces were once again. It was a lot easier to get distracted by it now that they didn't have seven pairs of eyes on them like earlier. He opened his mouth to answer, his hand moving up to cup the raven-haired woman's cheek as she gazed up at him with her intense blue eyes, asking him more than her simple question ever could. He felt his senses dulling as he tried in vain to focus on anything besides the teasing smirk the historian was giving him as she leaned closer against him. He thought of how many times he had wished the crew would disappear if only for a moment earlier when Robin had been securely in his lap for the first part of her party, thanks to the meddlesome cyborg. The metal man had decided to get involved with his personal affairs after interrogating him about his supposed affection for a certain historian one afternoon after his workout. Now, he had the aching feeling that that witch, Nami, had started having the same suspicions.

Robin frown as she felt Zoro's hand suddenly move from her cheek to the back of her head. He guided her head back down to his shoulder, keeping it there as he began stroking her still messy raven locks.

"Tell ya what. Maybe on your next birthday I'll tell you.", he offered, still keeping up his petting.

"I'm not as patient as I come across, Zoro. I don't know if I can handle living in suspense for another year.", she said, settling down against his chest as his gentle touch lulled her to sleep.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll figure it out before then. You are the smart one after all.", he said lightly. "For now, get some rest, Robin."

"Mm.", she grudgingly agreed, her cerulean orbs finally drooping shut.

"Oh, and happy birthday. When you wake up we can split some of the good booze that pervert keeps locked up too.", he suggested with a smile.

 **A/N:** Yea! I managed an update! So as you guys can see, as my last A/N in _Family Time_ suggested, school's been keeping me busy and writer's block's been keeping me from finishing an actual update when I do have a spare moment to focus on it. Nothing like birthdays to give me the inspiration and motivation I needed though. Yes, as you may have guessed this is a Robin birthday one-shot on Robin's birthday. (Made it just in time. :) ) However, I would like to dedicate this to the real inspiration for this piece, my good friend and ever loyal reviewer and encourager, **LegendaryOrigin** , who recently celebrated a birthday as well. (Sorry this is over a week late. This was the first decent thing I've managed to come up with as of late and after not finishing it in time for yours, I figured I'd wait get it up on Robin's instead. So happy late birthday, my dear friend! Hope you enjoy this little present for you with our favorite pairing. :) ) As usual, thank you all for the continued support. I hope you all like this little one-shot and I'll see you all next update. :)


End file.
